How Charles and Ray Eames Invented the Mid-Century.

The reason why I love the mid-century aesthetic so much is the same that makes me love the beautiful design of Dieter Ramsor Apple products.

The combination of simplicity, functionality and mass-production is the key of all the successful and revolutionary products that we all love and want.

Reading about mid-century and its protagonists, I realized that only few people joined together those three elements in their works: Charles and Ray Eamescertainly did it in the furniture industry as JosephEichler did in the housing market.

Charles was an architect and Ray was an artist, together they found the perfect balance between the beauty of art and the reasons of capitalism and mass-production creating innovative, beautiful and affordable furniture as the ESU or the Wire Chair.

Their motto was: “the best for the least for the most”. Something that today may sound banal -Ikea docet- but that back to the then was a revolution and a brave goal to achieve.

Before the Eameses and the mid-century modern aesthetic, the American interiors were a mix of XIX century European inspired furniture. Heavy wooden pieces that looked old fashioned and out-of-date compared to the new materials and technologies that the war industry made available to young and creative designers as the Eameses.

Changing the way people decorated and lived their homes was a too exciting challenge to let it go.

The lives of the most creative couple of the XX century are finally told in a awesome documentary called “Eames: The Architect and the Painter“.

“The husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames are widely regarded as America’s most important designers. Perhaps best remembered for their mid-century plywood and fiberglass furniture, the Eames Office also created a mind-bending variety of other products, from splints for wounded military during World War II, to photography, interiors, multi-media exhibits, graphics, games, films and toys.

But their personal lives and influence on significant events in American life – from the development of modernism, to the rise of the computer age – has been less widely understood. Narrated by James Franco, Eames: The Architect and the Painteris the first film since their death dedicated to these creative geniuses and their work.” (via firstrunfeatures)

I promised myself to go to the cinema to watch it but, apparently, there are too many blockbusters around to reserve a space for this piece of beauty; thanks god there are alternatives.

Since few days it’s in fact available the [amazon_link id=”B005LVO6QC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]“Eames: The Architect and the Painter” DVD[/amazon_link]! That I could not miss, of course!

The movie is an incredible excursus on the couple’s life from the beginning of their career and showing how versatile Charles and Ray were.

They, in fact, not only designed furniture but also worked in the movies industry as set decorator, designed toys, directed commercials, designed electronic equipments as the futuristic and incredible Polaroid SX70 etc.

The movie worths definitely to be watched and it’s a must have for all us mid-century enthusiasts!

Let me know your thoughts about “Eames: The Architect and the Painter” if you already watched it.